The Iola register., 1887-01-21

the risk ot such other chance cs wise men
think they can peel OF or twist out Of
Q Scripture passage that has for all tho
Christian centuries been interpreted an
ether way.
You say: ~ DO not like Princeton the
oiogy or Andover theology" do not ask
you on board either Of the great mea-of-
war, their portfolios filed with great siege
guns Of ecclesiastical battle. But I do ask
you to take the one plank OF the Gospel
tha. you do believe in and strike out for
the pearlstrung beach Of Heaven
Says sons other man: II would attend
TO religion if / was quite sure about tho
doctrine Of election and free sgency, but
that mixes me all up" Those things used
TO bother me, but1 have no more perplcx-
ity about them. for say to myself: IF
love Christ and live good honest useful
life. am elected to be saved: and il do
not love Christ and live bad life will be
damned. and all the theological seminaries
of the universe can not make it any differ
ent" aoundered along while il. the sea
Of sin and doubt, and it was as rough as
the Mediterranean on the fourteenth night
when they threw The grain overheard; but
saw there IVES mercy for a sinner. and
that plank took, and have been warm
ing myself By the bright fire on the shore
for three decades.
While I an talking to another man about
his soul he tells me: II do not become q
Christian because I do not believe there is
any hell at all" All! don't youi Do all
the people, of all beliefs and no belief at all,
Of good morals and bad morals, go straight
to happy Heavent Do the holy and the
debauched have the same cestinationsl At
midnight, in hallway, the owner Of u
house ald burglar meet each other, and
they both fire, and both are wounded, but
the burglar dies in Eve minutes and the
owner Of the house lives q week after VIII
the burglar be az the gate Of Heaven
waiting when the house-Owner comes in!
Will the debeuche and the E5ertine go
right in among the families Of Heaven!
wonder if Herod is playing on the banks
Of the River OF Life with the children he
nassacred. Iwonder if Charles Guiteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there shoot
ing at marx do rot row controvert il,
although must say for such a miserable
Heaven l have no admiration. But the
Bible does no: say: Believe in perdition
and be saved"
because all are saved, according to your
theory, that ought not to keep you from
loving and serving Christ Do not refuse
to come ashore because all the others, ac-
cordrng to your theory, are going to get
ashore. You mag have different theory
about chemistry, about astronomy, about
the atmosphere, from that which others
adopt, but You are not therefore hindered
from action Because your theory Of light
is di1eren. from others, you do not refuse
to open your eyes; because your theory Of
nrS - - n
breathe; because your theory about the
stellar system is different, you DO not re-
fuse to acknowledge the north star Why
should tie fact that your theological the
cries are different hinder you from acting
upon what you know. II you have not
whole ship fashioned n the theological dry
docks TO bring you to wharfage, you have
81 least plank. ''Some on broken pieces
Of the ship"
"But do not believe in revivals.' Then
go to your room. and all alone with your
door locked give your heart to God and
join some church where the thermometer
never gets higher than Fifty in the shade.
' Bat Do not believe IN baptism,' Come
in without it and settle that matter after
ward But there are so many inconsist-
ent Christiansm Then come in and show
them by good example how professors
ought to act But l don't believe in the
Old Testamentr' Then come in en- tho
New. ''But don't like the Book OF Ro-
malsr' Then come IN On Matthew or
Luxe. Refusing to come TO Christ, whom
you admit TO be the Saviour of the lost, be-
cause you can not admit other things. you
are like man out there in that Mediter-
raneau tempest and tossed in the Melita
breakers, refusing to come ashore until he
can mend the pieces of the broken ship
hear him say: Il won't go in
on any Of these planks until
know in what part Of the ship they be-
long; when 1 can get the windiass IN the
right place, and the sails set, and that keel
piece where il belongs, and that floor tim
Der right, and these ropes untangled. l will
go ashore. an En old sailor and know all
about ships for forty years, and as soon as
can get the vessel afloat in good shape
Will come in" A man drifting by On
piece Of wood hears him and says: 'You
VIII drown before you get that ship recon-
structed Better do a. l. am doing. know
nothing about ships, and never saw one be-
fore came on board this, and I csn not
swim q stroke, but am going ashore on
this shivered timber" The man in the
ofirg while trying to mend his ship goes
down The man who trusted to the plank
IS saved. g, my brother, let your smashed
up system Of theology 60 to the bottom
while you cone IN on . splintered spar.
''Sone on broken pieces Of the ship"
You may get all your difficulties settled
ss Garibaldi, the magnetic Italian, got his
gardens made. When the war between
Austria and Sardinia broke out he was liv-
ing at Caprera, . very rough asd urcuA-
-, De- L. g.
his sword to achieve the liberation Of Naples
and Sicily, and gave 9,000, 900 people free
government under Victor Emanuel Carl
baldi- after being absent two years from
Caprera, returned, and. when he ap-
preached it, he found that his home had by
Victor Emanuel, as a surprise, been Eden
lied Trimmed shrubbery hai taken the
place of thorny thickets, gardens the place
of barrenness, and the old rookery in which
he once lived had given way to . pict-
ured mansion where he lived in comfort
the rest Of his days And tell you If you
will come and enlist under the banner Of
our Victor Emanuel and follow Him
through thick and thin, and fight His bat
ties and endure Bis sacrifices, you will ind
after awhile that He has changed your
heart from jungle OF thorny skepticisms
into garden ali a-bloom with luxuriant
joy that you have never dreamed Of From
c tangled Caprera OF sadness into . para
disc Of God!
do not know how your theological sys-
TEN went to pieceA 1t may be that your
parents started you with only one plank,
and you believe little or nothing Or they
may have been too rigid or severe in
religious discipline and cracked you over
the head with a psalm book It may be
that some partner in business, who was .
Of an evangelical church, played
on you trick that disgusted you with re-
ligion- It may be that you have associates
who have talked against Christianity in
your presence until you are "all 1t sea"
and you dwell more en- things you do rot |
believe than on things you do believe You |